1 Context and rationale

1.1 About SOS Children’s Villages SOS Children’s Villages is a global federation of 136 national SOS Children’s Villages associations, working in more than 2000 programme locations worldwide. We work together with a single vision: every child belongs to a family and grows with love, respect and security. SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland is a non-profit, non-sectarian, and non-partisan NGO that has been operating since 1999. Its goal is to provide a family environment for children who have lost parental care or are at risk of losing care of their families. The organization operates in Four regions of Somaliland and implements various programs, including child care, child protection, youth empowerment and participation, education, and emergency interventions. SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland is committed to the welfare of children and upholds child protection policies to protect children and youth from abuse. It has a good relationship with many stakeholders, including government institutions, local authorities, and other CSOs.

1.2 About Family Strengthening Programme The Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) enables children who are at risk of losing the care of their family to grow within a caring family environment. To achieve this, SOS Children’s Villages works directly with families and communities to empower them to effectively protect and care for their children. In line with SOS’s Family Strengthening Programme strategy to build the capacity of the community-based partners to develop sustainable and relevant responses to reduce the risk of children losing parental care in the project area. This multi-faceted programme aims to:

1. Improve the quality of life of children through access to essential services such as education, water, healthcare and psychosocial support

2. Increase families’ income through micro-credit to boost income generating activities build the capacity of families and the community at large to be able to care for children. The overall goal is to prevent children from losing parental care by strengthening the families and communities. We enable children who are at risk of losing the care of their family to grow within a caring family environment. We work directly with families and communities to empower them to effectively protect and care for their children, in cooperation with local authorities and other service providers.

1.3 Description of project location and context Somaliland is one of the Least Developed Countries (LCD) in the world. Over half of the population lives below the UN poverty line and has one of the highest youth unemployment rates where two out of three young people below the age 35 years are unemployed. Somaliland has faced consecutive droughts in the past 5 years and the cyclone that hit in mid2018 affected severely the livelihoods of the people living in the coastal area of Sahil and Awdal regions. With this protracted draughts as well as the effects of the cyclone, pastoralist and agropastoralist families lost their livestock, agricultural plots and shelter, and as a result of this, moved to urban areas. In addition, children under 5 years represent more than one-quarter of all those affected and are the most at risk of malnutrition and water and sanitation hygiene (WASH) related illnesses and other childhood diseases. RFP and ToR for Baseline Study of FS Programme in Hargeisa (Qalax IDP) Facing all above challenges SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland is proposing a family strengthening program to support 100 families in Hargeisa (Qalax IDP) with approximately 600 children who are at risk of losing parental care. The program aims to provide relevant interventions to help these families grow in a caring family environment and thrive in life. Previously, these families received life-saving support through an Emergency Response project from SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland. The proposed family strengthening program will offer a resilience intervention for these families. The program targets 100 families to ensure a more focused and effective approach.

1.4 Rationale and overall objective of the baseline study The overall objective of the baseline study is to serve as a benchmark for the family strengthening programme in Hargeisa (Qalax IDP Community) and provide information and statistical data on socio-economic indicators for the 100 targeted families prior to the intervention. The baseline is also needed to critically assess and update indicators to ensure the measurement of actual change in response to the outcomes/objectives of the project. The study is expected to achieve the following specific

objectives: –

1. Establish a baseline indicator values for all indicators in the Result Framework of the project and propose possible improvements where needed.

2. Assess the living conditions of the families in the target locations and recommend the appropriate support based on their need.

3. Provide demographic information of the study locations (e.g. population Information (Children, Youth and Adults), Education level (literacy, numeracy and life skills) Shelter (Type and Condition of the family houses).

4. Identify Percentage of vulnerable and marginalized families and children in the target locations.

5. Assess the situation of children in the target community, risk factors and vulnerabilities that can put them at risk of losing parental care.

6. Analyse causes of child abandonment in study locations, as well as local and existing responses on child abandonment, family separation, youth and family empowerment.

7. Assess existing child and youth support services in the targeted areas focusing on services provided to separate and unaccompanied children, Disabled, GBV victims, and school dropouts. The assessment should also provide recommendations on how to improve these services.

8. Identify barriers to women, men and young people’s achieving self-reliance.

9. Detect existing challenges faced by young people, services available to them and appropriate interventions/solutions to address.

10. Identify challenges specifically faced by youth graduated from Secondary schools and Universities in the targeted communities.

11. Identify role of young people’s involvement and level of participation in their communities.

12. Identify food security data including number, type and quality of meals per day in the target location and identify the sources of families’ food, income and nutrition intake.

13. Identify community resilience and coping mechanisms in the study locations.

14. Assess accessibility of water and sanitation facilities to families, water consumption per person per day and sanitation practices (defecation, waste management, Communicable diseases and etc.) in the targeted communities.

15. Assess protection concerns and identify security risks against women/girls and children in the targeted communities.

16. Identify the percentage of school-aged children who are not enrolled schools formal and informal in the target locations.

17. Assess the level of knowledge of children, caregivers and Stakeholders on child rights, child protection and participation. 18. Conduct market assessment and propose the best Income Generating Activities (IGA) which will give the families and youth a sustainable income to meet the basic needs of their children. The assessment should provide solid information on the businesses which are in high demand, support needed and Challenges/barriers faced to start small businesses in the intervention communities.

19. Map out the existing TVET Centres in target locations and type of services they provide.

20. Assess the capacity of the existing Community-Based Organizations in target communities and identify areas for improvements

2 GENERAL INFORMATION ON REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The bidders are welcome to submit their proposal for a baseline study in Hargeisa (Qalax IDP community). This bid is open to all national and international suppliers (independent consultants or companies) who are legally constituted and can provide the requested services. The bidder shall bear all costs of the bid; costs of a proposal cannot be included as a direct cost of the assignment. The proposal and all supplementary documents have to be submitted in English. Financial bid needs to be stated in USD.

2.1 Process of Submission of Bids To facilitate the submission of proposals, the submission duly stamped and signed can be done electronically in PDF format and sent to hr@sos-somaliland.org Electronic submissions preferred. The titles of submitted documents should clearly state “Technical proposal for Baseline study of Family Strengthening programme in Hargeisa (Qalax IDP Community)” and “Financial Proposal for baseline study of Family Strengthening programme in Hargeisa (Qalax IDP Community)”. Please make sure that the technical and financial proposals to be submitted in a separate PDF files. During the process of evaluation, technical bids will be opened and evaluated first. The financial part of those proposals, which are shortlisted after evaluation of the technical proposal, will be opened in a second step.

2. Documents to submit

2.2 Bid submission / identification form

• Previous experience format

• Price schedule form (a separate PDF file)

• Technical proposal

• CVs of the research team member(s) including current geographical location(s)

• Three references (at least two of them must be familiar with your work)

• An example of a recent/relevant evaluation report (if available for public use)

2.3 Deadline for submission the proposal has to be received by latest on 17/04/2023, by the end of the day. Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered.

2.4 Modification and withdrawal of bids Proposals may be withdrawn on written request prior to the closing date of this invitation. Any corrections or changes must be received prior to the closing date. Changes must be clearly stated in comparison with the original proposal. Failure to do so will be at bidder’s own risk and disadvantage.

2.5 Signing of the contract SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland will inform the successful bidder electronically and will send the contract form within 3 weeks after closure of the bid submission deadline. The successful bidder shall sign and date the contract, and return it to SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland within seven calendar days of receipt of the contract. After the contract is signed by two parties, the successful bidder shall deliver the services in accordance with the delivery schedule outlined in the bid.

2.6 Rights of SOS Children’s Villages: – contact any or all references supplied by the bidder(s); – request additional supporting or supplementary data (from the bidder(s)); – arrange interviews with the bidder(s); – reject any or all proposals submitted; – accept any proposals in whole or in part; – negotiate with the service provider(s) who has/have attained the best rating/ranking, i.e. the one(s) providing the overall best value proposal(s); – contract any number of candidates as required to achieve the overall evaluation objectives

2.7 Evaluation of proposals After the opening, each proposal will be assessed first on its technical quality and compliance and subsequently on its price. The proposal with the best overall value, composed of technical merit and price, will be considered for approval. The technical proposal is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Term of Reference (TOR). Bidders may additionally be requested to provide additional information (virtual presentation or phone interview) to SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland on the proposed services. TERMS OF REFERENCE

2.8 Tasks and Questions The baseline study is an analysis of the situation prior to a project, against which progress can be assessed and comparisons made. The baseline study tests indicators listed in the Result Framework regarding their validity, reliability, and data availability. In some cases, the baseline study report might suggest changing/refining indicators or adapting the source of verification within the RF, because it is not feasible to find reliable data for the originally proposed indicator. In addition to those minor changes, the baseline study should establish the starting indicator value so targets can be set and the source of verification can be tested to ensure it is reliable and data can be accessed or collected. A strong and accurate baseline is the starting point from which change can be measured during monitoring and evaluations. Key Tasks:

1. Test indicators and their proposed sources of verification on availability and reliability

2. If necessary: suggest modification on either sources of verification or indicator definition / operationalization (only in case of severe challenges in collecting reliable data) 3. Establish baseline indicator values for all indicators defined in the Result Frame Work 4. Provide a short report with recommendations and a narrative summary of the baseline findings.

2.9 Methodology The data collection process is to be proposed by the consultant and should include e.g.: accessing existing data collection systems and existing reports such as the needs assessment; interviews with key stakeholders like representatives of the target group, community leaders and representatives of the Local Authority, accessing country statistics etc.. The technical proposal is expected to include a section on methodology.

2.10 Expected deliverables

– Documentation of activities (e.g. interviews) carried out –

Baseline study design and methodology in inception report

– First Draft of the final report in English.

– Presentation of preliminary results to SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland Management.

– final report of the baseline study containing (see outline in the annex):

o Executive summary

o Methodology o Recommendations on indicators and sources of verification

o Outcome of baseline study (table with baseline values)

o Narrative summary and recommendations